Something to be said for both choices. When I first got back to cycling after a long hiatus 20 years ago, I went right for a hybrid. I was buying the bike for a single event that my fiancee, now my wife, and I were planning to ride. It was no big deal, just a 25 mile supported charity ride. But I didn't have a bike so I had to get one quickly as the event was coming up in a couple of months. Beyond that event, I really didn't picture riding more than 10 or 15 miles at a time.

The upright handle bars, the ease of shifting and braking, and the price all seemed to favor a hybrid. I picked the venerable Bianchi Advantage, which I still own. Over the years, I eventually found out the limitations of the bike, particularly for rides longer than 20 miles and in the long run, I might have been better served with something more roadish, like the Bianchi Volpe, which was sitting on the sales floor right next to the Advantage. But the Volpe cost $300 more at the time, and I was unsure how much I would ride my bike after the event was over, and was likely intimidated by integrated shifting, which was fairly new at the time. Long story short, over the years, I modified my Bianchi, adding bar ends, changing the shape of the bars, putting narrower tires on, but I couldn't change the geometry of the frame, which was more mountain than road bike. After that, I tried several other bikes before eventually buying a Salsa Casseroll, which is quite similar to the old Volpe.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone with the Volpe 20 years ago.